Oracle seeks to delay cloud features in enterprise Java

Oracle hopes to stay on schedule for Java EE 7 by deferring planned cloud capabilities to Java EE 8, due in 2015

Oracle is finding its road map for enterprise Java is a bit too ambitious, with the company now proposing a postponement in cloud computing capabilities that had been anticipated for Java EE (Java Platform, Enterprise Edition) 7 next year. Instead, the cloud capabilities would be included in Java EE 8 in 2015.

In a blog post, Oracle's Linda DeMichiel cites slow progress in developing cloud technologies due to immaturity in the provisioning, multitenancy, and elasticity spaces, as well as in application deployments. Providing solid support for standardized PaaS (platform as a service) programming and multitenancy would delay Java EE 7 until spring 2014, more than a year behind schedule, she said. "In our opinion, that is way too long," said DeMichiel, who has served as Java EE 7 specification lead.

"We have therefore proposed to the Java EE 7 Expert Group that we adjust our course of action -- namely, stick to our current target release dates and defer the remaining aspects of our agenda for PaaS enablement and multitenancy support to Java EE 8," DeMichiel said.

Oracle believes Java EE is already well-suited for cloud, but its usage might not be quite ready for standardization. Deferring remaining cloud-oriented aspects will allow Java EE platform vendors to gain more experience, and the community at large will not have to wait longer for features that are ready. Oracle with Java EE 7 can retain its focus on enhancements in simplification and usability, as well as on features like HTML5 support and improved Managed Bean alignment.

"Because we have already laid some of the infrastructure for cloud support in Java EE 7, including resource definition metadata, improved security configuration, JPA schema generation, etc., it will allow us to expedite a Java EE 8 release. We therefore plan to target the Java EE 8 Platform release for spring 2015," DeMichiel said. Java EE 7 had already been delayed until next year after initially being proposed for release this summer.